Victims
by DivineArrow
Summary: Quick one shot :) The victor of the 71st Hunger Games reflects on her experiences in the Games and on the Hunger Games themselves. She also reflects on the Capitol and who the real victims in Panem are.


**Victims**

Us victors never forget. When a victor comes home, he isn't the same. A piece of him stays in the arena. The games change _everyone_, no one comes out of that arena the same. No one will ever understand what victors go through, except for the victors themselves. We've witnessed death, we've killed, we've broken bonds, and we've been heartless. But that's what's required if you want to win the Hunger Games right? What's worst of all, is that what is going to haunt you for the rest of your life, is only 1 year's worth of entertainment for the Capitol. Next year, they'll completely dismiss you and your games. To the Capitol, we're just tools, toys, and life is a game to them. They have the power to take someone's life away when they please, and that's what's scary. That at any moment, they could take _your_ life away, without thought or hesitation, just as long as it's convenient to them. It just shows that we're completely at the Capitol's mercy.

The Hunger Games. They were meant as a reminder to the Districts for the rebellion and a means for entertainment for the Capitol. But it's beyond that now. They use it as a tool to brake us. Sending two victors back to the Capitol to mentor kids that will go off and die. Making the Districts watch as their children die brutally. Controlling the richer Districts into turning their kids into bloodthirsty careers, taking their childhoods away. It's all to obvious now. The games are meant to brake the Districts, to crack us. The law that's been passed on to mandatorily watch the games, it's partly meant to remind us of our past, but mainly to brake us. We all know about the rebellion, we don't need to be reminded every year of it. I have been completely oblivious to this, but it's all for the Capitol's ego. So _they _can remind themselves that they have undeniable power. We all must obey, because, as I said before, we're completely at the Capitol's mercy. We're their slaves, their pets, their toys and their victims. They make up a whole story to make it look like their the victims, saying we attacked them. But I'm too old to believe in the Capitol's stories. _We're _the victims. Us, the Districts. We're the one's that suffer. You don't see the Capitol citizens starving. You don't see the Capitol citizens working endless shifts for little amounts of money. You don't see the Capitol citizens sending off two of their kids to die every year. We're the victims, and we always were.

And the games? They just make us even more helpless. 24 children sent off every year to go off and fight to the death until one of them remains. And what does the victor get? A house? More food for the District? Those are all nice things but in the end, the victor gets nothing. Every single prize the Capitol could ever offer would never compensate for the damage done. Wether the Capitol likes to admit it or not, the Hunger Games will always have 24 victims. Many say that the games cost you your life, even if you win. But it's much more than your life. To murder innocent children? That costs everything you are. A murderer, a killer, that's all you'll ever be once you come out of that haunted arena. Your life is taken away the second you're reaped. The second the escort reads out your name, you know, that no matter what happens, you won't be the same when you come back.

In 71 years, the Hunger Games have killed 1,633 innocent children, and they have changed 71 children. But not just changed them, haunted them, messed with their thoughts, and mentally scared them. And who knows for how long the games will go on for. Maybe for the rest of eternity, children will be killed ruthlessly. But it's over. I've won the 71st Hunger Games and I can return home, but never will I be the same. I, just like the 70 other victors, have been broken. So congratulations to the Capitol, you've managed to brake the weak little girl from District 6. Props to you.

- Elle


End file.
